Full disclosure / background: Sen. Cruz was my favorite GOP candidate at one point. I was neither predisposed nor inclined (politically or “temperamentally”) to dislike him. I had enjoyed and agreed with his comments on political talk shows for several years, and appreciated (and still do) his public stands for conservative principles. I switched to Rubio after Iowa, but I also liked Dr. Ben Carson a lot, and would have voted for Kasich in the Michigan primary, if I had voted.

I liked almost all of the Republican candidates (Pataki is a pro-abort: always an instant disqualifier for me). It was a great field. Trump was my 14th choice out of the original 17. I said all along that I would vote for the GOP nominee, whoever it was (just as all of the main candidates took a pledge to do: several — including Sen. Cruz — later going back on their own word).

What I don’t like, for sure, is two-faced crass opportunism and sore losers (otherwise, I would never “pile on” or “lick a man when he is down”). Readers may make up their own minds in interpreting the following extraordinarily polarized (and quite typically “politician-like”) opinions and actions, from Senator Ted Cruz. Don’t get mad at me; I’m just the “chronicler.”

Sen. Cruz’s own words will be inblue. Words in black are from various secular news articles (follow the bracketed “source” links for full bibliographical information). I won’t bother to put everything in quotation marks. These are all quotations. The dates are those of the articles cited.

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16 June 2015 [Cruz tweet] I’m pleased to welcome @realDonaldTrump into the race for the 2016 GOP nomination for President of the United States. [source]

30 June 2015“I like Donald Trump. I think he’s terrific, I think he’s brash, I think he speaks the truth,” Cruz said Tuesday morning on Fox News. . . . Cruz, whose father is Cuban, said he doesn’t believe Trump should apologize for his remarks, pointing out that “the American people are fed up” with the illegal immigration problem in the United States. “He has a way of speaking that gets attention,” Cruz said on Tuesday. “And I credit him for focusing on an issue that needs to be focused on.” [source]

15 July 2015 Trump and Cruz will meet Wednesday at New York’s Trump Tower, according to the Washington Post. Trump said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that Cruz called him to set it up. . . . The rivals for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination have been friendly for years, according to the Post, . . . “I’ve sat down with Donald multiple times before he was a candidate for president, and I’m happy to sit down with him now,” . . . “One of the reasons you’re seeing so many 2016 candidates go out of their way to smack Donald Trump is they don’t like politicians that speak directly about the challenges of illegal immigration,” said Cruz on Wednesday. [source]

For his part, Cruz said Trump is bringing a “bold, brash voice” and criticized other candidates (not by name) who “go out of their way to smack Donald Trump.” Following the meeting, Cruz said the two had “a delightful conversation.” “I’m a big fan of Donald’s, and we talked about the race,” Cruz told reporters. “We talked about how we are each enjoying it and how there is a need for more truth tellers.” Asked if Cruz had asked for Trump’s endorsement, the Texas senator said, “No, we had a conversation about the race. He’s running, I’m running, and we both agreed that we started out as friends, and will end as friends.” [source]

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18 July 2015“You know I recognize that folks in the press love to see Republican-on-Republican violence, and so you want me to say something bad about Donald Trump, or bad about John McCain or bad about anyone else,” he said. “I’m not going to do it.” [source]

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2 August 2015“I have been glad to praise Donald Trump for speaking out boldly and brashly and for focusing on illegal immigration,” Cruz said. . . . “When Reagan articulated the 11th Commandment it didn’t mean thou shalt not ever disagree with another Republican,” Cruz said, though he admitted he is following the Gipper’s advice not to speak ill of another Republican. [source]

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8 August 2015“I think every candidate should treat everyone else with civility and respect. That is a standard that I try to follow. That is a standard I hope that all of us try to aspire to.” . . . “I also don’t think that we are not going to solve the problems in this country and you’re not going to defeat the Washington cartel by obsessing over the politics of personality. This is about real challenges facing the American people. This is about the bankrupting of our kids and grandkids and defending the Bill of Rights and restoring America’s leadership. That’s where my focus has been. And it’s where I intend to keep it.” [source]

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11 August 2015“I would … note that an awful lot of Republicans, including other Republican candidates, have gone out of their way to smack Donald Trump with a stick. Now I think that’s just foolish,” he said. Asked why, Cruz paused and then replied, “Donald Trump had a rally in Phoenix, Ariz. [to which] between 10 and 20 thousand people came out. When you attack and vilify the people at that rally as crazies, it does nothing to help Republicans win in 2016. . . . If Washington politicians show contempt and condescension to those [voters,] that is a path to losing at the ballot box.” . . . “No one is asking about tax policy. [The media] wants me to comment on the salacious back-and-forth, and I’m not going to play that game.” . . . “I am grateful to Donald Trump for forcing the media to talk about illegal immigration,” he said. “Illegal immigration is a tremendously important challenge facing this country, and it is an issue where I have been leading the fight for many years.” [source]*19 August 2015Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler said they had a “very friendly” meeting [on 15 July 2015] about a wide variety of topics. . . . The two Republican presidential candidates’ campaigns discussed holding an event together in Washington, D.C. [source]

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“In terms of Trump’s civility, if you’re nice to him, he’ll be nice to you. And Cruz has been nice. Cruz is playing the long game and hopes that if he survives and Trump doesn’t, the billionaire will swing to him. He’s the second choice for a lot of Trump voters,” said a source familiar with the inner workings of the Trump campaign. “Cruz has been cultivating Donald for some time, declining to criticize him after the immigration flap or the McCain controversy, sending messages through operatives, dropping by Trump Tower when in New York,” the source continued. . . . “The senator has repeatedly credited Trump for bringing so much attention to the illegal immigration issue,” the aide said. “The senator has been, in my mind, extremely clear about not wanting to belittle Trump and his supporters, because [those supporters] feel very passionately about a serious issue. That has certainly set the senator apart from the other candidates who have been critical of Trump, and by association critical of Trump’s supporters as well.” . . . Trump and Cruz have not made any secret of their mutual admiration. Cruz has had no problem developing combative relationships with other Republicans in the presidential field or in Congress, but with Trump it has been nothing but kindness. If anything, their public praise understates the curiously cozy relationship that the two have in private. [source]

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9 September 2015 Donald Trump has been labelled a jackass and germophobe by some of his rivals in the Republican nomination contest, but from Ted Cruz it’s been nothing but praise and flattery. . . . In contrast to some of his fellow candidates, Cruz has either defended some of Trump’s controversial comments or turned down the opportunity to knock them. . . . Cruz told National Journal writer Tim Alberta that he has “bent over backwards” to avoid insulting Trump. Cruz didn’t say why when pressed for an explanation, but he made clear he will keep cozying up to Trump. “Many of the Re­pub­lic­an can­did­ates have gone out of their way to take a two-by-four to Don­ald Trump,” Cruz told Alberta. “I think that’s a mis­take.” He has referred to himself as “a big fan” of Trump’s, said they’re friends and shown he’s eager for face time with him and only him out of the field of candidates. . . . Kyle Kondik, a neutral political observer at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said the dynamic between Trump and Cruz has been evident for some time now, and that it’s likely Cruz who is pushing it because of a specific strategy. “I think it is fair to say that Cruz has tried to stay close to Trump in some ways,” he said in an interview. “I think that Cruz is hopeful that Trump will burn out at some point, maybe even before the voting starts, and then some of Trump’s support could be transferred to Cruz.” Kondik said Cruz might also be hoping that if Trump withdrew from the race for some reason, that he would endorse Cruz. [source]

12 October 2015“I like Donald Trump. When everyone else has gone out of their way to smack Donald Trump, I have not. I’m glad he’s running, . . .” [source]

8 December 2015“In the media, there has been no shortage of criticism for Donald Trump, and I do not believe the world needs my voice added to that chorus of critics,” Cruz said at a press conference. “And listen, I commend Donald Trump for standing up and focusing America’s attention on the need to secure our borders.” . . . “I recognize that a great many folks in the media would prefer that anyone running for president engage as an ongoing theater critic, criticizing the proposals of others,” Cruz said. . . . “I will absolutely support the Republican nominee, but I hope and intend for that nominee to be me,” Cruz said. . . . Cruz and Trump have been friendly toward each other from the start of the 2016 campaign. Trump said at a Monday evening rally that Cruz had been “nice to him,” . . . [source]

9 December 2015“I’ve taken this same approach with regard to every other candidate. It’s not just Donald Trump,” Cruz said. “You don’t hear me right now blasting, launching personal insults at Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio or anyone else.” “My approach to politics, and that has been true from Day One in the Senate, that if others choose to insult me and attack me, and — and you know, I’m told once or twice there have been some folks in politics who have said some unpleasant things about me,” Cruz laughed. “I do not respond in kind. I do not reciprocate and I don’t intend to. I’m not going to get down in the mud and engage in personal insults and attacks. You remember the first couple of debates — the Republican debates. They’re basically food fights.” [source]

So for six months, Cruz has bashed reporters for trying to bait him into shots into a conflict with the New Yorker, casting the media — and not Trump — as his foil. Even when asked for policy differences with Trump — which Cruz has said are at the heart of the political campaign — the Texas senator would not miss a beat before chastising reporters or encouraging “Republican-on-Republican violence.” He kept up that line on Wednesday, declining multiple times on Fox News to go after Trump. “Look, I like and respect Donald Trump. I don’t anticipate that changing at all,” Cruz said. “The reason why I won’t get engaged in personal insults and attacks, I don’t think the American people care about a bunch of politicians bickering like school children.” “I’m grateful Donald Trump is running,” he added, saying the mogul has focused the national conversation on border security. [source]

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25 March 2016“If you look at a number of the candidates that took on Donald Trump early on,” Sen. Ted Cruz told Wisconsin radio host Charlie Sykes on Wednesday, “they ended up as roadkill.” . . . [from August 2015] “I’m not going to engage in the back-and-forth on personalities,” he said. “I get the media loves that. That’s what you want to cover, is the soap opera of back-and-forth.” [source]

3 May 2016 It might be easier to believe Ted Cruz’s latest condemnations of Donald Trump if Cruz hadn’t spent months saying the exact opposite. . . . So, which is it? Should voters believe Ted Cruz when he says Trump is “a pathological liar,” or should voters believe the other Ted Cruz who insisted Trump “speaks the truth”? As recently as December, Cruz said on Twitter the political establishment may be waiting for some kind of “catch” between the two candidates, but it wouldn’t happen. “Sorry to disappoint,” Cruz said at the time, “[but Trump] is terrific.” Apparently, Trump was terrific before he was serial philandering narcissist. I realize, of course, that Cruz’s previous praise for Trump was a calculated strategy. The Texas senator believed that Trump’s candidacy would eventually falter, and if Cruz could position himself as the principal beneficiary once Trump’s supporters shifted their allegiance to a new candidate, Cruz could reap a windfall. . . . The Texan is now reduced to effectively telling the public, “Never mind all of that stuff I said before that I didn’t really mean. What really matters are the attacks I’m willing to make now.” Or put another way, Cruz is now admitting that he lied about the candidate he considers a pathological liar. [source]

I’m going to do something I haven’t done for the entire campaign, for those of y’all who have traveled with me all across the country. I’m going to tell you what I really think of Donald Trump. This man is a pathological liar. He doesn’t know the difference between truth and lies. He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth. And, in a pattern that I think is straight out of a psychology textbook, his response is to accuse everybody else of lying. He accuses everybody on that debate stage of lying, and it’s simply a mindless yell. Whatever he does, he accuses everyone else of doing.

The man cannot tell the truth, but he combines it with being a narcissist. A narcissist at a level – I don’t think this country’s ever seen. Donald Trump is such a narcissist that Barack Obama looks at him and goes, “Dude, what’s your problem?” Everything in Donald’s world is about Donald.

And he combines being a pathological liar…and I say pathological because I actually think Donald, if you hooked him up to a lie detector test, he could say one thing in the morning, one thing at noon, and one thing in the evening, all contradictory, and he’d pass the lie detector test each time. Whatever lie he’s telling at that minute, he believes it.

But the man is utterly amoral. [Reporter starts a question] Let, let me finish this, please. The man is utterly amoral. Morality does not exist for him. It’s why he went after Heidi directly and smeared my wife. Attacked her. . . .

But Donald is a bully. You know, we just visited with fifth graders. Every one of us knew bullies in elementary school. Bullies don’t come from strength, bullies come from weakness. Bullies come from a deep, yawning cavern of insecurity. There is a reason Donald builds giant buildings and puts his name on them everywhere he goes.

And I will say, there are millions of people in this country who are angry. They’re angry at Washington, they’re angry at politicians who have lied to them, I understand that anger. I share that anger. And Donald is cynically exploiting that anger, and he is lying to his supporters.

Donald will betray his supporters on every issue. If you care about immigration, Donald is laughing at you. And he’s telling the moneyed elites that he doesn’t believe what he’s saying, he’s not gonna build a wall – that’s what he told the New York Times, he will betray you on every issue across the board. [source]

He went on to say that Trump . . . “has a real problem with women.” He accused News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch and Fox News president Roger Ailes of turning “Fox News into the Donald Trump Network,” saying Murdoch “is used to picking world leaders in Australia and the United Kingdom running tabloids, and we’re seeing it here at home with the consequences for this nation.” He referenced Back to the Future’s bully Biff Tannen—“a caricature of a braggadocious, arrogant buffoon,” and allegedly based on Donald Trump—and said that “we are looking potentially at the Biff Tannen presidency.” . . . “Donald Trump is a serial philanderer and he boasts about it,” Cruz said. “This is not a secret. He’s proud of being a serial philanderer. I want everyone to think about your teenage kids. The president of the United States talks about how great it is to commit adultery, how proud he is, describes his battles with venereal disease as his ‘own personal Vietnam.’ ” . . . This may be a tedious thing to keep pointing out, but Cruz spent the first six or seven months of Trump’s candidacy as Trump’s biggest booster and validator to the conservative grassroots. There’s always been some truth to the moniker of “Lyin’ Ted.” [see documentation of Cruz’s record on amnesty and immigration issues] His greatest lie of all was pretending that he ever thought there was a decent bone in Trump’s body, and he went much further than that. “I’m grateful that he’s in the race,” Cruz said late last summer. [source]

. . . people who are insecure about who they are, Donald is terrified by strong women. He lashes out at them. . . . Do you wanna spend the next five years with your kids bragging about infidelity . . . he does the same projection, just like a pathological liar, he accuses everyone of lying . . . He accuses others of doing what he is doing. . . . We are staring at the abyss . . . [source]

If Indiana does not act, this country could well plunge into the abyss. I don’t believe that’s who we are. We are not a proud, boastful, self-centered, mean-spirited, hateful, bullying nation. . . . Donald Trump laughs at the people of this state: laughs, bullies, attacks, insults. I don’t believe that’s America. [source: video at the end]

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Meta Description: Ted Cruz’s incredible 9-month odyssey, from being a Trump “fan” to thinking he is the scum of the earth & pathological scoundrel.